The Future Belongs to Software Defined Enterprises

What does this mean for business computing?

It's never been harder, or easier, for a developer of software applications to make an honest living. And it's never been more confusing, or simpler, for consumers to figure out how to get access to cool new tools and critical old ones for their computers, phones, and pads.

The enterprise software industry, after several years of declining growth, stands at the verge of what promises to be a tumultuous time. The enterprise software industry today faces a future without a development that will spark unbridled optimism and widespread growth. Ten years after enterprise software met the Internet, vendors have encountered the "good enough" crisis- a situation in which customers are reluctant to upgrade to newer versions of software products when installed versions work adequately. Just as the Internet was responsible for the last explosion of growth in the industry in the past decade, it is now laying the groundwork for dramatic change that will sweep across the software sector in the coming years. Indeed, we already are seeing some of the first waves of change making their mark in the form of growing acceptance of open standards and the development of open source and software as a service, which at the moment are competing for attention with the industry’s move towards consolidation.

Today, pulled between the traditional dynamics of the computing industry on one hand, and the rapidly growing disruptive influence of the Internet on the other, enterprise software is on the verge of a metamorphosis. To understand where enterprise software is today, it is helpful to remind ourselves of the role of software in business. Enterprise software has two primary roles: to inform and to automate business activity. Hence, it achieves growth via two main avenues: addressing new business activities, or improving the way it supports activities already addressed.

When a business needs an application, the business doesn't have to wait months for the code to be written. This reduces the number of systems analysts and programmers needed. The provider of the software performs all maintenance, which reduces the duties of the IT staff at the business level. The company making widgets can concentrate on making widgets, instead of making widgets and maintaining a large IT staff. These remote software services provide a new and exciting future for business teams, and allow independent professionals to easily stay-up-to-date on software upgrades, while also saving money and allowing for easy online collaboration. As more and more business professionals go mobile with multiple devices (laptops, smart phones, tablets), the SaaS options make the transition between devices easier, faster and less expensive.

Emerging trends in mobile, hybrid cloud architecture, and software-defined products will continue to drive mainstream PaaS adoption as enterprises seek cloud solutions that meet or exceed needs for cost savings, business agility and data security. This presents an exciting time for companies to take advantage of the cloud by transitioning to a private or hybrid cloud model.

The Future Of Enterprise Software” describes The “cloud” and the Software as a Service model were the last innovations in enterprise software. There were not a lot of changes in other aspects of the software though. For most, they remind dull applications running on regular PC computers and sold to CIOs.

Consumerization is changing that and is doing it fast.
Here are three predictions on how consumerization will change the face of business computing forever:

A new class of enterprise software — With the cost of building and serving great software going down and the new user experience paradigms becoming more pervasive, a new generation of business software emerges. With a strong focus on user experience and on making the software useful for the users themselves and not only to their managers, this type of software accelerates adoption and provide 10X the value for a fraction of the cost.

Dramatic shift in discovery channels — CIO magazines are great but today people find new apps via social media, peer recommendations, search or, increasingly, through the various app stores. There’s no need for a special committee to choose the right software when you can rely on credible ratings and recommendations. The employees bring their apps and collaboration tools from home and effectively make the decision for the enterprise.

Failure of traditional vendors to adopt — Don’t want to name names but it is absolutely insane that most of the traditional vendors failed to put together good mobile apps. Truth is that it is not easy to do when you are sitting on top of a complex legacy code that barely runs in a modern browser, let alone on a new device.

It will take another 3-5 years but it is inevitable. The revolution is already here and like always it starts from the bottom, with new and smaller companies adopting new apps. It will then move quickly upstream to medium businesses and eventually to bigger enterprises. The devices and software that we will use in our work environments will be dramatically different.(1)

Over the past year, private Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) gained significant adoption by large corporations, building momentum that will exponentially increase in 2014. Organizations across a variety of industries turned cloud into reality through PaaS after realizing the benefits including faster application development, reduced costs, and the ability to turn software into a revenue-generating business.

Looking Ahead to 2014-15

According to GigaOM Research, the PaaS market is predicted to reach more than 20 billion dollars in 2014-15. With expected exponential growth on the horizon, many opportunities exist surrounding emerging trends in hybrid-cloud architecture, mobile, and software-defined anything that will drive PaaS adoption in the enterprise.

Hybrid cloud: This will be top of mind for CIOs in 2014 as enterprises evolve from cloud hype to reality. While public cloud has received the lion’s share of hype in recent years, real enterprise cloud adoption starts with private cloud and transitions to public through a hybrid approach. As the primary demand of every enterprise, hybrid makes using the cloud possible and serves as a good transition for companies with all types of security needs.

Mobile: In 2013, enterprises were not building new workflows for mobile but were instead offering web-based apps. With its ease of use, PaaS will strengthen mobile development in 2014. PaaS enables companies to take existing workflows and expose them in a way that is secure and easy, resulting in more agile and streamlined mobile app development.

Software-defined anything: To compete and be more relevant, companies must evaluate how they can add revenue streams through software. Companies such as Diebold, Nike, and Tesla have already begun experimenting with ways to improve operational efficiency and transform their services with software and have been met with great success. Aware that tremendous potential exists to increase net margins, improve customer acquisition, and enhance customer loyalty, companies will continue exploring new ways of generating software-based revenue. (2)

References:

1. “3 Predictions On The Future Of Enterprise Software” by Uzi Shmilovici (http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/10/3-predictions-future-of-enterprise-software/)
2. Software-Defined Enterprises Are the Future, BY SINCLAIR SCHULLER, (http://www.wired.com/2014/02/software-defined-enterprises-future/

Best Regards,

Raj Kosaraju

Raj Kosaraju brings more than 23 years of experience to Marketing, Management Information Systems and Technology Consulting. As CIO of Maxil Technology Solutions, Inc., Mr. Kosaraju has been instrumental in shaping up the growth of this rapidly growing information technology firm, which ranked 148 on the 2005 Deloitte Technology Fast 500, a ranking of the 500 fastest growing technology companies in North America. He also won the Prestigious “Alfred C Sloan Award for Work place Excellence” for Chicago region in 2006.Was also one of the Nominees andFinalists for the 20 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur awards program(Lake Michigan area) in June 2006.